An ingredient apparently used in the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine has the Diocese Rockville Center asking people to avoid getting the one-dose admission.
The diocese says the vaccine is ‘morally impaired’ due to links to cells derived from aborted fetal tissue.
In a strongly worded statement, the diocese says: “Abortion is a morally evil act that cannot be destroyed or reduced in gravity, not even by the good intention to help others (ie as vaccine production).”
Although the diocese does not go as far as banning the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, it says: ‘On moral grounds related to their connection with the evil of abortion, it is recommended that the alternatives currently available or in the very near future, the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are preferred over the Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca vaccines. ‘
The church’s statement comes days after the Food and Drug Administration granted permission for emergency use of Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine, which applauded health experts for requiring only one shot and not being limited by cooling needs. not.
Johnson & Johnson officials say the vaccine formula contains no fetal tissue.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the country’s leading expert on infectious diseases, who was raised as a Catholic, urged Americans last week to take one of the three coronavirus vaccines they now have available and not one vaccine over another. do not delay.
“These are three extremely effective vaccines. I can tell you that I was completely vaccinated with one that was available. It was the Moderna,” says Fauci. “If I had not been vaccinated now, and I had the choice to take J & J vaccine now or wait for another vaccine, I would take any vaccine available to me.”
The position of the Vatican differs from the diocese of Rockville Center. Pope Francis said people have a moral obligation to get the vaccine.